When “Mike & Molly” becomes this fall’s breakout comedy hit — you read it here first — producer Lorre will have struck gold with three entirely original concepts: a bawdy romp involving bachelors (“Two and a Half Men”), a “Friends”-ish apartment sitcom with polymaths (“The Big Bang Theory”) and now, a romantic comedy with overeaters. What’s more, he’ll have done this in an age when the traditional four-camera sitcom is widely viewed as, well, a thing of the past.

What's his secret?

“You learn as you go,” Lorre said this week when unveiling “Mike & Molly” for the nation’s television critics at their summer press tour. “It’s really gratifying and rewarding at times — but mostly, it’s terrifying."

Lorre thinks it’s a distraction even to think of it as a fat comedy. In fact, it was conceived as more like “Mike & Mark” — a bromance — before he thought of the O.A. angle. “This isn’t a show about weight,” Lorre says. “If we’re still talking about this issue come Episode 6, we’ve got a serious problem because it’ll get tired really quickly. It’s not enough to hang a series on, not by any stretch of the imagination. Mothers, sons, fathers, lovers, friends, money, health, work — those are the things you write about."